Thread: Wheel Size - Offroad

Originally Posted by disco_2008

hi
I was wondering if there is any advantage of having 18" or 19" wheels for offroad?

Or is a smaller size wheel better? or no difference.


Thanks

No mate there is no real advantage. Often finding tyres is more difficult and expensive (especially in remote areas) and with large 18-19 inch wheels there is a reduce wall to the tyre, which reduces the about of flex and bagging available, hence reducing the amount of traction and contact with the ground. Most people would run either 16 ior 17 inch tyres.

However, there shouldnt be too much wrong with 19inch rims offroad....if you running 42 inch tyres!

Angus

Angus

As I understand it - a bigger wheel will give you better off road 'torque' for want of a better word - ie less speed/higher power to the wheels - or less wheel revolutions to the RPM - however I don't know how much difference 1" would make (with wheels/tyres I mean)

....however I will point out that I am extremely far from a wheel / tyre expert

This said, when the team from the US came out for the Rock Crawling comp last year or whenever, they handed it to us while running 20" rims, and AFAIK the biggest dia rims of the lot. They still have a bit of sidewall though. I tend to think that the more that you make up in bagging from a small rim, the more you also lose in lateral stability of the carcass.

Great thanks for the info.

You can get MTRs in 19" but not in 18" as that is what the G4 Discos run.
Regards,
Tote

OK cool.

what about tyre wear on the d3? would 17" or 19" give more life? or no difference..

Bad ride, VERY high price, VERY short life. Easy to damage on rough outback use. Maybe good competition tyre but not the best for daily use on the rough stuff. Ask the guys at your local tyre service for their opinion of fat sticky low profile tyres. They hate them as the clients come in and bitch about them wearing out in low k's, and bitch about the replacement price. These are high performance tyres and typically last less than 15,000k's. They are usually super soft stickies fitted to high power posemobiles that get lots stick and wear out quickly. The owners come in for a new set bitching like hell about the short life and find that some of these tyres are $1000 each. As the manager of our local tyre service says, "You bought it, you caned it, so don't winge to me".

The range rovers in particular - new versions - do poorly in the sand because the fat low profile tyres are like trying to roll a log against the sand.

The best sand tyres are the ones with the longest footprint and shallowest approach angle to the sand. A high sidewall allows plenty of bagging to increase that longitudinal footprint for sand work in particular. As for other off road work the smaller height sidewalls are generally recognised as being more prone to allowing pinched sidewalls or punctures.

Cheers

PS. In other words the big steelies look great on road but suffer offroad. I wouldnt personally like to go bigger than a 16 inch mag, but thats just my preference and I realise that 17 is the smallest in LR3